14 Years of Panic
by BlackSwanGirl
Summary: After the kidnapping in book one, Dex returns home saying Sophie is gone. One year later, Maya runs into Periwinkle and Teal boy. Her life is truly uncovered with new friends, love, secrets, and, no matter what, the truth will come out soon.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! BlackSwanGirl is here. This was originally based off the idea of Saphara's KOTLC Found, but I began to shape it a little more and now it's something VERY different.

Thirteen Years of Panic

Chapter 1: Street Rat

Maya ran through the street, ducking the grabbing hands and ignoring the calls of: "street rat!".

She would admit, with her stolen hoodie, baggy t-shirt, straggly blonde hair, sharp brown eyes, and ripped jeans, she did look like a street rat. And she kind of was.

But she had a home. And a sort-of guardian. Her parents had been murdered when she was a baby. She was dedicating her entire life to finding that killer and making him pay.

She glanced down at the gold watch and wallet she had stolen. Today was a good load.

She raced through the streets, finally getting to the sales tent where a thin, red haired woman in her twenties was selling a number of things.

"Hey, Natalia!" Maya called from across the street.

Natalia looked up from her cash box and waved. Maya waved back and crossed the street.

"What do you have today?" Natalia asked with a sigh. Natalia hated Maya's stealing, but it was the only way to make a living.

Maya handed her the gold watch and the wallet. Natalia hung the watch on a hook behind her and started to go through the wallet.

She put 3 dollars in the cash box, and handed Maya the rest. Maya dumped the wallet, a drivers license, a gift card to a book store downtown, and a pen into a blue basket with an number of items already in it.

Natalia called her over. "Can you count the money in the box?" She asked. Maya nodded.

She started to count. When she was done, she called out to Natalia, "39.78!"

She heard Natalia sigh. "That means we have one night left in the hotel room, kiddo." She said sadly.

Maya and Natalia couldn't afford a home, so they bought a cheap hotel room and payed the owner of the hotel 30$ a week to stay there. But the owner was fed up with that, and he demanded 50$ a week or they were kicked out.

Today was Friday. The money was due tomorrow.

"So, where are we going to live?" Maya asked. Natalia turned to her.

"In the park, sweetie," She said.

Maya grinned. "Great! More people to steal from!"

Natalia winced. "Maya, I appreciate you trying to help us out, but maybe you should just get a job somewhere."

Maya shook her head. "Nah, that's boring. Stealing's way more fun and way less work."

Natalia sighed and shook her head. Maya rolled her eyes. "I'm going to the cafe," she said.

Maya pulled up the hood on her jacket. She didn't want to be noticed. She quickly walked down the street to the small cafe and looked around.

The old man in the corner probably didn't have any money, nor the lady drinking coffee near the doorway.

But she noticed some nicely dressed boys around her age sitting alone. They looked like they had money to spare.

She started to creep over, but a waiter came by and she had to step away.

The waiter left soon, but so did the boys. She noticed as they left that they both had blue eyes.

She left also, returning back to her tent. The girls had one last night in the hotel, so they packed up the tent and left.

The next few days were a blur. They set up a makeshift tent in the park, and Natalia has to work all day at the sales tent for more money, and Maya kept stealing.

Every day now Maya went to the cafe. Every day the blue eyed boys were there.

One day, she crept behind the taller of the two boys and tried to grab his wallet from his bag.

She cut open a hole in the bag with her pocket knife. But instead of a wallet, a silver thing fell out. It almost looked like a knife, but different.

Before she could pick it up, the other boy spotted her.

"Hey! Y-" He started. Then he froze, just staring at her.

Maya looked around, wondering if he was staring at someone else. But his perrywinkle eyes bore into her brown ones. The taller boy turned around. He had teal eyes and dark hair.

"Sophie?" He whispered.

"Huh?" Maya asked.

"Why did you run off like that?! Dex a least came back!" The teal eyed boy said angrily.

"What?" Maya said, confused.

"Is this about Biana? Did you just run off here because of us?" Teal boy asked.

"Who's Biana? Who are you?" Maya asked.

"Oh..." Said perrywinkle boy. "She pretending not to remember you. Don't worry Sophie. Wonderboy's sorry,"

"Who are you?" Maya asked again. "Who's Sophie?"

Perrywinkle boy frowned. "Wait. Why are you pretending not to know me? I haven't done anything,"

Maya laughed. "Okay. Clearly you guys are crazy, so, see you later, I have somewhere to be."

"Wait!" Teal boy cried out. "Sophie, please!"

"My name isn't Sophie!" Maya called out angrily.

Perrywinkle boy paled. "Oh. My. Gosh. I don't think she remembers us! For real!"

Teal boy seemed to calm down a little. "Okay, then, what is your name?" He coaxed.

"Why should I tell you my name? For all I know, you two are a pair of wackadoos off the streets," Maya pointed out.

"We'll tell you our names," Teal boy said.

Maya raised her eyebrows. That was a pretty good deal.

"Okay," she said slowly.

"I'm Fitz," said Teal boy.

"I'm Dex," said perrywinkle boy.

Maya could have questioned whether those were just made up names or not, but she knew for a fact that it would be hard to make up strange names like those under pressure.

"I'm...Maya," she said. These guys seemed trust worthy.

Fitz smiled. "Okay, Maya, I need to make a call real quick."

He left the room. Maya and Dex sat in silence. When he came back, he sat down and looked at her.

"Okay, Maya, what I'm about to do to you is for your own good," he said quietly.

She heard a small click. "Wait, wha-" Fitz grabbed her arms and put them behind her back. She twisted and thrashed, but he was stronger than she was.

Then, the most shocking thing happened. Two men appeared out of thin air holdings small sticks with crystals on top. She fainted.


	2. Awake

Hey guys!

Review answers:

Strikestar: Thank you!

Strawbr'yblonde perriwinkle love: thanks!

Emily Jacobs: haha. Don't worry, I'll update soon.

Chapter 2: Awake

When Maya woke, she was laying in a bed. She looked around curiously. It was a very large, luxurious room.

There was no-one else in here but her. She jumped out of bed and ran around the room, pocketing things that looked worth some money. Natalia would love her when she got home.

She jumped back into bed, not getting under the covers, just sitting there. Soon, one of the men who had appeared earlier came in the room.

He was holding a plate of food. She glared at him.

"Hello, Maya," He said. "My name is Alden."

"You people have weird names," she said, not bothering to be polite.

He looked slightly taken aback. She smirked at him. He set the plate down. She glared at that too.

"You have some visitors," Alden said.

He opened the door and a bunch of people streamed in.

Three of them were adults. One woman, who was sobbing. Two men, one with large goggles around his eyes and one with blonde hair and tears in his eyes.

The rest were kids her age. There was a girl who looked like Fitz with the same dark hair and teal eyes. There was a boy with messy blonde hair and icy blue eyes, and Fitz and Dex.

She glared at Fitz, who looked down at his feet.

"Wait a minute," Alden called out. "One at a time, please."

People shuffled out of the room until only Fitz remained.

"I'm sorry." He said.

She stood up. "I am Maya. I am Maya and only Maya. I am the adopted daughter of Natalia Walsh. You hear me? I am not Sophie. I am Maya. And you do not strangle me and get away with it!" She yelled at him.

She jumped on top of him and he yelped. She slapped him, and he flipped over, so that he was on top of her.

She growled and twisted. He loosened his hold on her arms. She kneed him in the chest. He rolled off of her, and she pinned him down.

"Like I said," she said, breathing heavily. "You don't mess with me."

Fitz sighed. She let him up. She sat back on her bed and watched him leave the room. Next came the girl version of Fitz.

"Soph-I mean..Maya, was it? Yes. Hi. I'm Biana. You don't remember me, but-" Maya interrupted her.

"Fitz said you did something to this Sophie/me girl that made her run away. What did you do?" Maya asked fiercely. Biana cowered.

"Look, I...pretended to be your-her-friend-" she was again interrupted.

"WHAT?!" Maya yelled. "GET OUT!"

"Wait-"

"Get. Out." Maya growled.

Biana fled.

Next came the messy hair boy. He smirked at her.

"So, you don't remember me-"

"Obviously."

"But my name's Keefe. I used to call you Foster-"

"You call me Maya."

Keefe looked at her curiously. "Catch me," he said.

"What-" Maya started. But Keefe started to run around the room. She chased him and pinned him down like Fitz. He gawked at her.

"You've changed." He said.

"You never knew me!" Maya yelled. Keefe stalked out.

Dex came next. He didn't speak.

He handed her a strange version of an iPod. She gasped.

"You're giving me this?"

Dex blushed. "Well, yeah."

"Thank you."

It was the first time she had ever said thank you to anyone.

Dex went to open the door. Everyone fell forward.

Maya got to her feet. "You guys were eavesdropping?!" She yelled.

The group nodded.

Keefe smirked. "How many times you said thank you, Maya?"

Maya's features softened. "Just that once."

Everyone looked surprised. She sighed and gestured for them to come in. They all came and sat down in various places.

"What do you guys want to know?" She asked.

"Well, maybe, a little about you?" The sobbing woman said.

"First, all of your names." Maya said.

She already knew Keefe, Biana, Dex, and Fitz. The sobbing woman was Edaline, the blonde guy was Grady, and the goggle guy was Elwin.

So, then she explained about herself. She explained her parents had died when she was a baby, how Natalie had found her wandering around when she was two, and adopting her, and how they were poor, how she had started stealing when she was 7, and how her first steal had been a disaster. She had grabbed a plastic crown from a little girl's head, and the little girl had chased her all the way down the street and she had tripped and cut herself, and had to run home and Natalie had to call an ambulance. They gave her 80 stitches. She had a scar on her arm. She showed them.

She finally told them she had a fear of doctors. They all smiled.

"What?" She asked.

"Sophie had a fear of doctors." Said Fitz.

"Who's Sophie?" Maya asked for the umpteenth time.

Edaline explained who Sophie was and how one day she had dissapeared. And how she looked exactly like Sophie.

"So? There are look alikes in this world," Maya pointed out.

Keefe frowned. "What's a look alike?"

"It's a human thing," Dex told him.

"Wait, what? What does that mean? We're all humans," Maya said in confusion.

The group exchanged glances. "Maya," Fitz said. "Do you ever hear people talking in your head?"

Maya went rigid. "No," she lied.

"Wait a minute," Keefe said. "I can feel that fear all the way over here."

"What do you mean, you can feel it?" Maya asked, her anxiety mounting.

"Tell us about the voices in your head first," Fitz demanded.

"Okay, I'm out of here," Maya said, walking towards the door.

"No," said Grady. "You're not."

Maya froze. She tried to move, but she couldn't. She unwillingly turned around. She wasn't even doing anything!

Her tense muscles relaxed, and she was back in control of her body.

She didn't ponder how they did it. She was scared, and when she was scared she acted.

She ran at Grady. He did something. She knew it was him.

She ran so fast she knocked into him and they hit the wall. He looked terrified.

"What did you do?" She hissed.

"We'll explain," he promised, his voice shaking.

She slowly let go of him. He took his place next to Edaline. She realized everyone was staring at her.

"Look," she yelled. "I don't care what you people think of me, okay? I have lived my whole life an outcast. You guys aren't the first people to think of me as a freak." She felt her eyes burn with tears. She tried to ignore them, but they came anyway.

Fitz walked up and put his arm around her. She remembered where she was and her strange situation.

She shrugged his arm off. "Get off me," she said, wiping away her tears and sitting on the bed.

"Tell me about-about-that." She said, gesturing to Grady.

"First, the thoughts," Fitz said.

Maya glared at him. "I don't know what you mean," she lied.

"Come on," said Dex. "Just tell us."

"I used to hear the voices," Maya began.

"Used to?" Biana asked timidly.

Maya glared at her. "Listen. I used to hear them. It all started on the day of my first steal.

"When I fell I did cut my arm, but I also hit my head. I didn't tell Natalia because I didn't want to worry her more.

"But after the stitches, I started seeing images of things that I never thought of. They just popped up.

"I told Natalia, thinking I had injured my head. She payed all of our money to get me a doctors appointment.

"It turned out nothing was wrong, and after that I started to hear Natalia's voice in my head. She was always angry with me, because we had wasted our money.

"I couldn't take it anymore. It killed me to hear her disappointed voice.

"I stayed up late teaching myself how to block it. Soon I did, and all the voices went away."

Everyone looked thunderstruck. Maya grimaced.

"See? Weirdo, freak. I'm the only one in the entire world who hears voices."

Fitz smiled. "Actually, you're not alone."

"What?"

"Yeah," Fitz said. He told Maya all about the Elvin world.

"When he was done, Maya's eyes seemed to sparkle. "Really?" She asked hopefully.

The group stared at her. They didn't expect her to take it like this. "Yeah," said Dex. "You don't think we're crazy?"

"No," Maya said.

"Um, okay." Grady said.

The group filed out. Maya watched them leave. When the crowd had left, she glanced at the clock.

It was 9:30. She had been here longer than she expected.

She was tired from her morning, so she turned off the light and layed down in her bed.


	3. Real Life

Chapter 3: Real Life

Here's you're next chapter! I'm serious here, brace yourselves. There is some kissing involved.

Thanks bookish girl, and the rest of you who reviewed.

Maya woke up early, a habit Natalia had drummed into her head so she could help with the store in the mornings.

She immediately grabbed the iPod off of her chestnut brown nightstand.

She started to fiddle with it. She had only heard about these things, and had never owned one or stolen one.

She hit all the buttons on the side of the phone, one of which turned it on.

She stared at the screen. There was a picture for the screen saver.

It was a picture of Biana, Dex, Keefe, and Fitz, who all looked very confused. The only relaxed looking person was the girl in the middle.

She had a bright smile, and her brown eyes were squinted against the afternoon sun. Her blonde hair flew behind her, making Maya guess there was a strong breeze.

This girl could have been her identical twin. Who was she? Who's phone was this in the first place?

She decided to ask Dex later. She pushed her thoughts away and clicked an app that had a music note on it.

Apparently, the last person who owned the phone had been playing a classical waltz. Maya got up and started to twirl around the room. She could show off her soft side alone, couldn't she?

Unfortunately, she was not alone. Keefe stepped in the room and stared at her.

She froze and looked at her feet. Keefe smirked and walked forward.

He stopped in front of her and bowed, holding out his hand. "May I have this dance?" He asked formally.

Maya giggled. She took his hand, and they started to waltz around the room.

Finally, they stopped. Maya began to step away, then noticed how close they were. She blushed.

She saw Keefe blush also, but didn't back up.

They're faces were so close. So close she could lean forward and kiss...

But before she could even consider the thought, he acted.

He leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back, and they stood there, lip locked. Finally he broke away, beaming at her.

Maya's door burst open. Biana was standing there, shocked.

For a moment, the threesome stared at each other. Than Maya remembered that she was, well, Maya, and she ran forward at Biana.

Keefe grabbed her and held on to her. Biana stood there, still shocked.

Finally, she ran off. By the next hour, everyone was calling them a couple.

Maya didn't mind, really. If she was Keefe's girlfriend, that was fine. She liked him a lot.

Keefe didn't seem to mind either.

Soon she was going to school with everyone else. Soon everyone called her Maya instead of Sophie, and Stina's snide remarks had lessened.

Every day Keefe met her after school. She lived with the Vacker's for now, until she got her memory back.

She had excepted the thought that she could be Sophie, but something told her she wasn't.

After school one day, when they were all sitting around, Biana suggested they play base quest.

Keefe explained the rules to her, and it was girls against boys.

Maya had finally forgiven Biana for pretending to be Sophie's friend, so they played well together.

Maya still didn't understand her Telepathy, so she relied on her strength to win.

Biana tagged Fitz out, and Maya ran off to find Keefe.

She ran into a small clearing and heard a rustle nearby.

She crept over, pretending she hadn't noticed.

When she was close enough, she dove into the bush next her and grabbed Keefe by his shirt.

They ended up behind a tree, and she still had him by his shirt collar.

She smirked at him. "Come on, I know you could have done better than that," she scolded him.

She reached out her hand to tag him and he kissed her.

He kissed him back, still holding him by the shirt.

Finally she broke away, and she smiled at him.

"You're cute."

And she tagged him out.

Okay, guys, I know that was the shortest chapter ever, but I have my reasons. I will update soon.


	4. I'm Begging You

Chapter 4: I'm Begging You

Okay guys. I know this isn't a chapter. But I need help. I have a plot outline for this story. I know how it will end (but I'm not telling you...hahahah). But I need the characters to do something in the meantime. Give me ideas! Please! I really don't want this story discontinued. Thank you so much!


	5. Ideas

Maya woke up on Saturday, after dreaming she had been a ninja, watching Keefe blow up Everglen while Fitz was inside it. Fitz was okay, and both of them turned into Sophie and everything melted away.

That's when it hit her.

A prank.

She was going to pull a prank!

She grabbed a notebook that she had for private stuff, ripped out a page, and started to think up ideas.

When she was done, her page looked like this:

Who to prank:

Dame Alina

Lady Galvin

Keefe

Dex

Prank:

Glue?

Blow up SOMETHING

Freak out somebody (Dex)

When:

?

Where:

School

Everglen

Candleshade

She narrowed it down later, and now she was ready to go.


	6. The Plan

Chapter 6: Pranks

Here was the plan:

She snuck into the school at midnight, somehow.

She got into Lady Galvin's classroom, take some Stuck Stick Stuff, then go into the cafeteria, and stick EVERYTHING to the walls.

Perfect!

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Well...almost.

She ate dinner (umber leaves) with the Vacker's, then ran up to her room, pretending to be sleepy.

She waited for an hour until she heard Alden's snores, then crept out of bed and into the kitchen.

She heard creaking from upstairs and darted into a corner, breathing hard, but no one came down. She assumed Alden had rolled over or something.

She creeped to the Leapmaster and whispered 'Foxfire,' and a beam of light appeared in front of her.

The eerie glow lit her face as she stepped forward, not hearing the hushed gasp of Fitz Vacker, who was hiding behind her in the shadows.


	7. Note

Hey guys! This isn't a real chapter, I'm sorry. But I have a question I've been pondering for a while. Here it is:

Would you rather have a TON of KOTLC stories from me, with way slower updates, or the same amount I have now, and maybe a little faster updates? Please reply soon.


	8. What?

Chapter 3: What?

Maya crept onto the school grounds and around the building, where an unlocked window had been left for her by a very smart blonde, brown eyed girl...

She climbed up the building, only pausing when a rock fell below her.

She reached the window, which was the window of the Universe classroom.

She crept into the classroom, keeping an eye out for, well, anything.

Something creaked behind her.

Maya darted behind the desk, breathing hard. If she was caught...

But no one came out of a hiding spot to give her detention or send her to the council.

She waited until her heart stopped pounding, then crept out and hurried to the stairs down to the second floor, where the Alchemy classroom was.

Maya snuck to the back of the room, where there was a dark brown wooden cabinet. She opened it, revealing bottles and bottles of supplies. She saw that they were alphabetically sorted, and got down to the S's.

Maya grabbed the Stick Stuck Stuff, then turned and went too walk out the door, slamming right into something big. She toppled to the ground.

She looked up and opened her mouth to scream at the looming figure over her.

The figure covered her mouth with a soft hand. She could feel it trembling.

Maya didn't know what was going on. Who was this person? Why were they here? Were they after her?

She gave up on mentally questioning the situation and started to pry the hand off of her mouth.

The attacker's other arm wrapped around her, holding her tight. She struggled, but there was no breaking out of the strong grip.

The attacker dragged her over to a dark corner.

She tried to shout through their hand, but it was no use. Fear pounded through her. Danger seemed real now.

The attacker grabbed something from the shelf by the cabinet. Maya realized it was a lamp.

They somehow lit it, revealing a hooded figure.

The attacker pulled his hood back.

Maya blanched in shock.

"Keefe?"


	9. I Thought You Loved Me

Chapter 3: I Thought You Loved Me

Thoughts swarmed through her brain. Why was her boyfriend in Foxfire? Why did he attack her? What?

"Keefe," she hissed. "What are you doing?"

Keefe smiled sheepishly. "Uh...well...a guess you could call it a prank."

Maya sighed with relief. Keefe wasn't evil. He was just a prankster.

"What kind of prank?" Maya asked carefully.

Keefe looked around. "Um...it was...sort of...a thing...for you."

"For me?!" Maya said, surprised.

"Yeah." He said, his confidence growing. "I was going to recreate the time you exploded Lady Galvin's cape."

Maya's happiness turned to confusion. "But I never-"

Oh, right.

Sophie blew up Lady Galvins cape. Sophie should be her. Keefe was doing this to bring Sophie back. To get Sophie to remember.

And the Maya he knew wasn't Sophie.

Emotions exploded inside of her.

Fear.

Anger.

Guilt.

Sadness.

Grief.

 _Heartache._

Keefe didn't love her. He loved Sophie. And that's why he was dating her.

Maya's lip began to tremble. "You don't want me."

Keefe had taken a step back, probably from her emotions, and now he looked at her like she was crazy. "Maya, what does that-"

But Maya was angry now. She raised her voice. "You don't want me!"

"Maya, quiet-"

"No! You just want Sophie, Sophie Sophie Sophie, the girl who you _used_ to have. Well, guess what, she's never coming back! I'm going to be Maya forever! Say goodbye to your precious sweetheart! Apparently I don't live up to the expectation of pretty perfect Sophie Foster! You won't ever be seeing that again!"

Maya stormed out in tears.

Keefe ran after her, but she had already leaped away.

Keefe left. The last person in Foxfire was Fitz Vacker, hurrying home to warn the others and stop their plans.

 **What did you think? It's getting good, right?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, so I don't know how many of you already now this, but I just reminded my self to check the official Shannon Messenger website, AND THE COVER FOR NOGHTFALL IS SO AMAZING! EVEN THE ACTUAL WRITER OF THE BOOK IS FANGIRLING ABOUT IT BECAUSE ITS SO AWESOME! I AM FANGIRLING SOOOO HARD RIGHT NOW I MEAN THIS COVER IS AAAAAMMMAAAZING!**


	11. The Surprise

Maya hurried to the Vackers, watching the early light of dawn light up the tops of the trees. She grit her teeth and forced the tears to stay back as she opened the gates, not even caring that they would be mad she snuck out.

She opened the door, entering a silent living room and kitchen. She stormed toward the stairs, ready to tromp up them and wake everyone, but then she heard a voice.

It was coming from down the hallway to her left, where the door was shut. That was the door of Alden's office, where she loved to stare at the fish in his aquariums.

It was Fitz's voice. That really didn't matter, but what made her stop was what he was saying.

"Quick, everyone, take down the streamers! Hide all of the supplies—"

"Fitz? What's going on?" It was Alden, still behind the door.

Fitz again. "It's a long story. There's no time! Hide all of it!"

There were hurried footsteps, rips of paper, frightened whispers, and then a minor crash.

Maya crept to the door, where she heard snippets of what they were saying.

"Fitz—"

"What is—"

"You grab—"

"Can we leave the—"

"Snack—"

"What is happening—"

All of the voices stopped as Maya turned the knob slowly.

She pushed open the door and stood in front of all of her friends besides Keefe, all the parents, everyone she ever met, it seemed. All crammed in Alden's office, holding tables and streamers and snacks.

"That's why." Fitz said, wincing.

Maya stood, silent, as Alden frowned. "Fitz, we could've just hid and surprised her! We were almost finished decorating, anyway. Everything was ready! Why did we need to ruin it?"

Everyone started to grumble, until Maya spoke.

"What is this?"

Della frowned. "It's a party, of course. Well, the decomposition of a party."

"I know that. I mean, what's it for?"

Fitz ran to cover Della's mouth, but it was too late.

"Well, it's for you, dear. It's to help you remember—"

Fitz covered her mouth, but the rest of the sentence was clear. It's to help you remember being Sophie.

Breathe.

Breathe, Maya.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.

She didn't ask how Fitz knew, she just bit her lip, hard, and stood, rigidly.

The polite, non-dramatic thing to do was to say thank you, and enjoy what she had and try not to cry. But, of course, Maya was not polite and most definitely dramatic.

"Maya, I'm really sorry. We didn't know—" Fitz started.

"No, it's okay, Fitz." Maya said, her voice shaky. "I know you guys loved Sophie. And I'm sorry I'm not her. I should've guessed you guys don't want me."

She fought back the tears until the last sentence, then her body shook with them, and Maya tried to stop them, she tried to be angry, but her anger was gone. She was just Maya, and she wasn't tough, and she wasn't wanted anywhere, even when she wanted this place with all of her heart.

Della tried to console her. She was engulfed in hugs, but the tears wouldn't stop. She couldn't say anything. She just stood there, numb and lifeless as a rag doll as empty words were spoken to her.

Finally, she shoved everyone away. She was done. There was nothing left to stand for, nothing to be but Maya, daughter of Natalia on the streets, and she was done.

She turned to leave just as Keefe walked in. There was a frozen moment, but then the tears started coming again and she shoved past her boyfriend.

She was done.


	12. Special Place

Maya ran, thinking to go to her bedroom, but it seemed to close to all of the people pretending to love her. So, she ran outside.

Bursting through Everglen's gates, she felt a burst of energy that was broken-hearted freedom. She was leaving the people and the place she loved behind, but she was free from the pain it brought to love them.

She just kept running and crying. Her breath was short from trying to stop the crying and running at the same time. But her heart hurt more.

Of course, she got tired. She ran a long way before that moment, though. She finally collapsed on the ground.

It was dark here. Everything was luminescent, so maybe it was bright.

The place was breathtaking, wherever it was. Everything seemed to glow, and the outside world was covered by a thick, luminescent willow tree, which beads Huns down like tiny crystals.

There was a river, which babbled softly. The grass was soft and springy, and there were places with just warm, soft, soil hit her aching feet. The trees were beautiful, and it was silent except for the brook.

She loved it here.

Maya sat down on the grass, taking everything in more slowly. She found a spot under the branches of the willow tree and laid down. She promptly feel asleep.


	13. Home

**This is probably not going to be there greatest chapter. My little reminder for what was going to happen in this chapter was "Avoids friends, spends the next few weeks living alone, and decides to go back to school." So...**

The next few weeks were torture. She stayed away from her friends, sleeping in her special place. Finally, she decided to go back to school.

She stole some cleaner clothes from Sophie's old room (which she stole from whenever she needed something), when Edaline and Grady were out. She was grateful Sophie hadn't own that many dresses, because she hadn't stopped for a certain outfit.

She walked into Foxfire with a silver tunic, which had blue vines sewn as decoration the bottom.

She kept her head down as she hurried along to her first class. She got a couple glances, but nothing to harsh.

On her way to Universe, she bumped into Keefe and Dex. Literally. She stole a glance at her (ex?) boyfriend's face, which had a broken sort of look on it, and then hurried on.

"Maya—" she heard his voice behind her. It was full of so much heartbreak and regret that the stopped for a moment. But she shook her self and hurried out of the hallway.

She noticed Fitz in the hallway right before lunch, but stayed to the sides and only got one glance from him. He didn't look up again.

Lunch had been what Maya was dreading. She hurried in early, hoping to get her food and hide in a back corner table. She took one in the back, but another group kicked her out.

She gave them a glare that made them shrink a little and then got up to move. Of course, that was the moment her friends walked in.

There was a moment where everyone seemed to hold their breath as the five locked eyes. Then Maya hurried to another table and sat down like nothing happened.

The four sat down close by, close enough she could hear snippets of the conversation.

"Maya? I didn't think she would come back."

"Well, she—"

"There hasn't been any sign of her for—"

"Everyone's been worried sick."

"Do you know where she's been living? I heard—"

"Edaline mentioned a missing tunic—"

"Did you see her today? Me and Keefe did."

"Do you think she's okay?"

That one had been Keefe's voice. It broke her heart in half, she felt like crying. Suddenly she wanted to kiss him so badly it hurt. But she knew if she touched him, she would start crying and never let go.

She marched out of the room, but not before dropping a note in Keefe's lap.

He picked it up with shaking hands. He bit his lip hard and looked at the others.

The note was scribbled in her loopy handwriting:

 _I want to come home._

 **As some of you know, I'm leaving FF for a while and that may be my last update for a couple months. I will update some of my older stories, and if you haven't already, go check out my "Help Needed" post. Thank you guys so much for two wonderful years on FanFiction!**


	14. The Fall

Maya was still keeping her head down in the hallways a week later. There was nothing else she could do.

She spent her days alone, eating lunch in the library and avoiding everyone.

She took out her pent up feelings with various things; pranking, singing, drawing, and crazy stunts on video.

Today was a stunt day.

The day had been long and rough, and Maya didn't care about anything but feeling the rush of adrenaline she got after doing a stunt.

She climbed up the side of Foxfire, reaching the fourth story window. She had stacked a large amount of mattresses on the ground below her. She felt numb.

She tapped the record button on her iPod and made sure it was strapped on tight to her hand.

Maya didn't want to die; she had tested the mattresses from shorter heights and she wasn't even bruised. She was confident.

She took a deep breath and jumped.

The adreline faded quickly as she realized that she hadn't thought this through.

Her jump was off. She was going to land on the ground as a Maya pancake.

She screamed, hoping someone would hear her, but no one was around.

Her eyes found a windowsill and her hand reached out. Her fingertips caught it and the sudden stop caused her to bang against the stone wall.

She managed to climb up, slipping the phone off her fingers and sobbing.

She cried until there was nothing left to cry. She had been stupid enough to think no one loved her; she was so dumb. She had almost died because she was numb and blind to her own stupidity. So she just cried.

When her eyes were finally dry, she found that the window behind her was unlocked. She scrambled through, kicking her phone in the process. It tumbled down, still recording.


	15. Maya's Video

This chapter is going to be Keefe's POV. I don't do these often, but I need his emotions for this chapter. Enjoy!

Keefe was walking alone, ditching class for the second time that day. He avoided his ditching spot, because it reminded him of the day he met Sophie and the day she didn't come back. And Maya.

Despite what she thought, he really did love Maya for Maya. And he had been dreading her getting her memory back.

He had decided to walk outside today, looking at the scenery and thinking happy thoughts, which, surrounded by depressed friends, he didn't get a lot of.

He also needed to be away from his friends. They were driving him crazy.

Fitz kept talking about Sophie. Sophie, Sophie, Sophie. And he kept stumbling over the name 'Maya' as if it were a foreign word.

Dex kept trying to stay quiet, and then exploding at random moments and yelling at everyone near him, and then sobbing, and then acting like nothing happened. Over. And over. And over.

Biana kept talking about what she thought would be positive, mostly hoping Maya would get her memory back. She also started giving gifts to the group and writing poems. It was kind of hard to watch, because it was clear she was struggling. A lot.

And Keefe was so confused.

He missed Sophie, but he missed Maya differently. Sophie felt like fracture in his heart. Maya felt like a hole.

He wished he had never lost Sophie.

But then he wouldn't have met Maya.

But Maya caused him heartbreak.

But he loved her.

The words were so strong, so true, and he kept coming back to them. There was no escaping it; he had fallen in love with a runaway girl who was feeling less and less permanent every day.

A strange sight brought him out of his musings. There were five mattresses, stacked up, right next to the building. And an open window nearby.

He studied the mattresses, but nothing seemed amiss. Until he looked on the fifth mattress, at the top.

An iPod lay there, with a strap attacked to the back.

 _Maya's iPod._

Keefe picked it up, inspecting it. There was no sign of damage. Nothing was different until he checked her last open app; camera.

It took him a moment to figure out how to work it, but after that, he clicked on the first video he saw.

It showed Maya, on the roof of Foxfire. Keefe almost dropped the phone in panic. But there was no Maya pancake to be seen.

He continued watching.

Her face looked emotionless as she jumped off the roof, and Keefe's panic was building every second she fell.

Her face suddenly morphed into fear and she screamed. The phone turned away from her face and towards the ground, which was getting closer every second. And there were no mattresses below.

Suddenly, everything jerked and the falling stopped. It was shaky for a moment, and all you could hear was Maya's heavy breathing.

Keefe sighed with relief as she crawled onto the windowsill, but his heart still aches as she sobbed harder than he had ever seen anyone sob before.

She turned and climbed through the window and suddenly the phone was falling, and it hit the mattress and everything was dark.

The video stayed dark for a good ten minutes before the phone turned off automatically and the video stopped.

 _Maya had jumped off the roof of Foxfire as a stunt._

 _She had had almost died._

 _She had sobbed in video and left._

 _The real question was, where was she now?_


End file.
